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Just because Apple was able to secure a partnership with a large number of retailers for their new Apple Pay NFC mobile payment service, doesn't mean all retailers are welcoming it with open arms. In fact, several of the biggest retailers are refusing to offer access to Apple Pay, including Walmart, Best Buy, CVS and Rite Aid.

It turns out that these companies are working together to try and get their own mobile payment platform started. They are all part of something called the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) which is a consortium of companies working to develop something called CurrentC.

What's interesting about CurrentC is that it completely bypasses the Credit Card companies. Here's a quote with more of the details,

Unlike Apple Pay, CurrentC will not use credit cards. Instead, the app will connect directly to a customer’s bit account. When a purchase is made, the merchant must scan a QR code on the smartphone to initiate a payment. The credit card companies are thus left out of the entire payment process.

Furthermore, CurrentC will also collect data about a buyer’s shopping habits across the stores part of the MCX network — also something entirely different from what Apple does with Apple Pay — in order to better target customers with special deals and loyalty programs.

Finally, while Apple protects Apple Pay transactions with a variety of technologies, including the secure NFC chip, the Touch ID fingerprint scanner and tokenization, it’s not clear how CurrentC is supposed to protect payments in the future.

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It's hard to see this CurrentC product getting enough momentum to catch on with consumers, especially since it isn't as easy to use as Apple Pay. It looks like we are getting ready to enter a phase of "mobile payment platform wars," with offerings from Apple, Google and now this MCX consortium clogging up things even further. Which one do you think will come out on top?

Comments

It sounds like these companies want to do data mining on a huge scale. That's probbably the main purpose of having their own payment system. I see this as another scheme that puts the interests of the company first.

It sounds like these companies want to do data mining on a huge scale. That's probbably the main purpose of having their own payment system. I see this as another scheme that puts the interests of the company first.

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I don't see how? IMO this is more their way of avoiding potential fees or whatever that will pushed down to use apple pay. Nothing is free and apple pay does introduce some costs. The. There is the proprietary nature of it too. Honestly, I'm not a smart phone user so I don't care but I can see why they'd try their own thing.

Granted, I don't like this CurrentC program (and I would not have liked it even without ApplePay - or Google Wallet). I see what the merchants are trying to do: avoid the fees they get charged from the credit card companies.

The thing that concerns me the most about this CurrentC/MCX program is that the retailers have direct access to my checking account. And that is after I give them my Social Security number and driver's license number to let "them" access the account.

Then there is this: when you make a transaction via the CurrentC program, you are having your funds taken directly from your checking account. So, if something goes wrong later on, you are still out the money until the fraudulent or incorrect charges have been fixed (so, you could have bounced checks, no access to cash, etc.). It's a direct pipeline to your bank account that is not existent with credit cards.

Oh, and per the CurrentC web site, you can't delete/remove your checking account information until/unless you call their Customer Service to remove it.

For fraud protection, the credit card companies usually give you longer to report issues with purchases versus banks and your debit card.

So, I won't be using this new system. I'll use ApplePay where I can and use my credit card the "normal" way where I can't use ApplePay.

I was reading this yesterday afternoon-and just don't feel comfortable with the cumbersome process this CurrentC App requires. Logging into each site, using a QR scanner and than providing very personal/financial information about oneself.

I'll be sticking to my credit card for these stores. It's worked for me all these years, so why quit now for some new App these merchants are trying to get out.

This CurrentC system is asking for far more personal information than could possibly be needed to complete a transaction. Then there's the fact that they reserve the right to share all that personal info with third parties that have nothing to do with your purchase.

What we have here is a vast data mining network which aims to collect as much information about consumers as they can get away with. What legitimate reason, for example, does Walmart need health info from the purchaser of a pair of pants?

Apple Pay and CurrentC are at opposite ends of the security scale as far as ensuring the security of personal data is concerned.

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